Republished on Wednesday, 11th March 2015: Following the news that Sony's shutting down PlayStation Mobile fully, we've decided to bring this article back out of the archives. The original text follows.
Originally published on Wednesday, 6th August 2014: Sony's smartphone strategy seemed so, well, smart a few years ago. While the PlayStation Vita was flagging, the format holder appeared to have a long-term plan in PlayStation Mobile – a compartmentalised plaza offering semi-curated content on PlayStation-certified platforms. The idea was to step away from the poor quality offerings that tend to plague the Google Play and iTunes storefronts, instead providing players with the type of high quality experiences found on home consoles or dedicated handheld devices. This was tied to an open development environment, allowing fledgling game makers to concoct and publish small titles on a shoestring budget, assuming that they adhered to a set number of guidelines designed to ensure a good user experience.
However, the Japanese giant today announced that the initiative will no longer be compatible with the newest iterations of the Android operating system, essentially signalling the end of the programme as we know it. For developers, the signs have been there for some time, as a recent Unity software development kit update limited compatibility to the manufacturer's portable system and PlayStation TV, leaving smartphones and tablets out in the cold. Seeing as the manufacturer conceived the entire venture on the basis of breaking into the rapidly growing mobile market, its plans now appear to be in tatters. Alas, as already alluded, there was plenty of positivity surrounding the platform at the time of its arrival – so what on Earth went wrong?
Confusion
While a great idea on paper, PlayStation Mobile almost certainly suffered from an age-old Sony problem: complication. Where its rivals work hard to simplify, the Japanese giant almost always manages to confuse. As such, its smartphone storefront was a cumbersome mess. Assuming that you owned a device that was actually compatible with the programme, there were also issues regarding region, with many European territories never receiving the platform at all. Add to that a lack of support for simple PlayStation Network features – such as Trophies – and the whole initiative carried the whiff of an undercooked experiment that wasn't part of the core PlayStation ecosystem at all, when it should have felt like an extension to it.
Conviction
In addition to confusion, Sony also has big issues with conviction. The manufacturer should have ruled the casual gaming space with brands such as SingStar and Buzz, but it instead released the exorbitantly expensive PlayStation 3 and ceded the sector to the Nintendo Wii. Similarly, it kickstarted the camera gaming craze with EyeToy, but then allowed Kinect to iterate upon the hands-free input idea. PlayStation Mobile's failings don't necessarily rank as highly as the aforementioned examples, but it's the exact same half-hearted attitude that's allowed the programme to fail. The company did run some free game promotions to drive awareness to the platform, but a lack of presence on the PlayStation Blog, slow updates, and a reluctance to incorporate demanded features ultimately killed the under supported initiative.
Content
For all of the criticism that PlayStation Minis attracted, it actually played host to some pretty stellar games. And the platform holder leveraged that in order to get PlayStation Mobile off the ground, working with indie studios such as FuturLab and Laughing Jackal to furnish the platform with some top notch titles at launch. The problem is that it forgot to support the storefront beyond that point. Gun Commando, Life of Pixel, and Tokyo Jungle Mobile were real post-release highlights, but the storefront has since become cluttered with calculators and Japanese visual novels – and that's when it gets updated at all. For the platform to succeed, Sony needed to supply it with above average content, and ensure that said titles got the promotion that they deserved. Alas, many of its biggest proponents skipped to native Vita development instead.
Did you ever play any PlayStation Mobile games? What were your thoughts on the platform as a whole, and why do you think that it's been largely overlooked? Try to act 'appy in the comments section below.
Comments 30
@DilMan33 That's the big question, isn't it? They're certainly going to continue selling Vita for a few years yet, so there's no worry there. However, dedicated handhelds seem to be slumping into irrelevence outside of Japan. Like you say, though, the 3DS has done well — though even that's struggled a little in the post-smartphone world.
My guess is that they eventually see PlayStation Now as their mobile presence, but I'm still not convinced it's going to work...
I never knew this existed. I guess like you said Sammy, they want to focus on Playstation Now so they did away with this.
PlayStation Mobile had the WORST kind of games. They were either in broken English, were a downgraded version of better games already on PS Store, or would be offered as "free", but then a few minutes into the game, would tell you it was just a trial. Also, there was SO much potential to offer really cool, yet basic apps for PS Vita through Mobile, but all that was available were unusable ones from Chinese developers (just read the description for some of them, the English is so bad that you can barely understand what the damn app was even for!). Heck, they couldn't even make a functioning notepad app, A NOTEPAD APP! If the Mobile program is going to keep churning garbage, then I honestly say good riddance to it. It's an embarrassment to the PlayStation family. Sorry to sound so bitter, but just like PS Move, Sony half-arsed yet another really awesome venue.
At least PS Now works really well. All it needs is a much larger library, stable support on the other promised devices, ADVERTISING (this is why Vita is dying; so many gamers don't even know it exists!), and it should be golden.
@Grockumus I totally agree. It didn't start that way, though - the launch lineup was amazing. It's really disappointed of late, and it's Sony's own fault. I always envisioned this as an extension of the PlayStation Network on your phone — essentially the PlayStation App as it is now, but with tailored games, too. It should have been big, but the potential was squandered in almost every conceivable way.
I think this is because they try to do to much at once and things get left in the dust. Right now Sony should just concentrate on what they have going for them right now, make it as best as they possibly can and when they get more than enough resources to support something else for playstation, then start doing that.
What went wrong PS Mobile... too expensive, poor quality and poorly marketed.
@voodoo341
With the exception of quality, pretty much everything that's happenning to Vita...
@JMC and to be honest... the PS4 is starting to go that way as well
I had a ps3 about a year after launch, until a few months before ps4 I hadn't heard of PS plus, PS vita and certainly not mobile. Sony have improved on their advertising but their track record is appalling.
@voodoo341
Well, to be fair, PS4 got the marketing better as it's selling a lot without that much exclusive content to back it up. I hope it improves, but in the meantime, I'm more than happy with my Wii U and my PS3, and I'm certainly glad I haven't bought a new console from Sony or Microsoft.
The rubbish piled up and after awhile it became difficult to find the good.
@Grockumus I agree Vita needs advertising and also about PS+ and the Vita games I'm sure most people have no idea as most of them need access to PSstore
Why didn't it work. It was crap.
I have great faith in Playstation Now. In saying that, they need to ensure they fix all the points this article made if it is to be successful.
Buy an awesome android tablet. Buy an awesome gamepad. Enjoy the increasingly awesome game library.
THE best accessory to this equation = Playstation games! (ok, maybe Nintendo games ;p )
More and more people are buying gamepads for iOS and Android and no company can compete with Playstation Nows library.
Right price,marketing,game selection, and Playstation now will not only be a hit with the slightly-more-than-casual gamer but also with the hardcore gamer. Sorry Vita, you were sh*t house from the beginning.
Edit: Please Sony, don't be so stupid as to lock this to your own hardware. Let people enjoy your service and let it act as a flag to remind people how awesome of a company you are. Then once the service is successful and if you really want, advertise your xperia phone series as the best place to enjoy PS Now e.g. Something corny like "xperia muiti-illumnious display gives superior contrast and refresh rate for the high intense PS Now situations"
PlayStation Mobile had a lot of potential, but it was clear that it's a dying thing.
The biggest issue with PSM is that it's very limited to a certain number of devices. It would have been nice to open PSM to ALL Android users like other various app store providers like Amazon, but Sony restricted it to a small number of phones from a few manufacturers, namely Sony themselves. Not everyone has those phones, and even if they did, almost none of those people knew about PSM or how to get it.
I actually own the Sony Xperia Play, and I for the longest time when the service launched had no idea how to actually download and access PSM.
The next big issue is the content. There just isn't enough noteworthy content on there. Barely any from Sony themselves. It would have been great if SCE just even ported the old 2D Java-based God of War or Ratchet & Clank dumb-phone mobile games to the service, but there just weren't any major Sony brands on it.
That, and the games initially were priced a bit too high, like a dollar or two more than what the usual impulse-buy app user would want to pay for, which is normally free or just $.99.
PlayStation Mobile overall is pretty much Sony's version Xbox Live Indie Games on 360, but now exclusively to their handheld that unfortunately isn't selling as-is. And being like XBL's Indie Games isn't necessarily a bad thing: It's a much more open platform to let anyone make their own game on a PlayStation system meaning that we might see some cool stuff, and there are a few cool stuff, but overall we just get some crappy apps instead.
I think it would be much cooler if PSMobile does become something like 'minis' again in the sense that you can play the game over multiple systems, console or handheld. Just need an easy way to transfer saves, though, because there was no way to move my progress off my Xperia Play onto my Vita for PSM titles.
If Sony pushes PSM to be a low entry to developers to make games for their systems, not just on the Vita side, I can see a lot of potential for it. But if they should probably change the name of PlayStation Mobile (again) to reflect that, well, mobile devices are out of the equation now...
I have a Sony xperia phone that came with 10 free games on ps mobile and I still only played with them a handful of times.
I still highly recommend downloading Rymdkapsel. That game is fantastic.
The biggest problem with Playstation Mobile is just like you said, they failed to incorporate it into the playstation ecosystem. If those games had trophies and leaderboards it would have been a gigantic success, absolutely no doubt in my mind.
Sony could get the VITA moving again. It's been picking up a little speed in the US and Japan has it selling well. All they need is to start bringing the games out for it and advertising them. There is no advertisements for the VITA, just like Nintendo isn't really advertising the WII U. Many people (parents especially) don't always look at the internet as seeing about consoles, so this is where commercials need to be made. That being said, I stated it before that Sony needs to keep the determination into their items and not give up after a year. This is the same thing that killed Sega by making too much and expecting all of their fanbase to purchase right a way, and it doesn't happen that way, which is another thing that Nintendo needs to realize. That being said, I love nintendo and I love sony and will continue to support them.
The entire service reeks of dumb sony decisions.
What is it with Japanese companies these days? Both Nintendo and Sony are run by retards.
@DilMan33 there have been all sorts of studies that prove that people that play handheld gaming systems, something on the order of 80-90% of them, play within 5 feet of a power outlet. (I can't find an exact link, but there were quite a few posted when the PSP launched with its terrible battery life). So power is not really an issue for most people for most use cases. Its only an issue when you want to actually play on-the-go (like on the train, not while sitting in the doctors office, which has a power outlet) which oddly enough is not the common use case for a handheld game device.
Sammy... Why did you lock my topic? I have every right to feel that way... I really do not understand...
Yet again, I'd be rich if I had a penny for every time I've said this, Sony don't understand handheld gaming. It held back the PSP, it's failed with PSM and it's all but killed the Vita. "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
@Inahime You need to get a thicker skin. You seem to take everything to heart. Thread was locked because @get2sammyb told you where to go if you want to make a complaint.
What are the games in the first two pictures down the page?
@rastamadeus I do not understand why you continue to pester me about this because of this situation... Can you please refrain from replying to me. I do not want to speak to.you if you're going to insult me like that....
I do not need a thick skin because we are all different and like I said I have my disagreements, okay?
@Inahime It is not an insult. I don't know if English is your first language but all "thick skin" means is not be insulted by everything. This is a prime example. You asked why your forum post was locked, I explained, you take it as an insult when there is nothing insulting about it. As for pestering, this is my fifth - fifth! - message to you. Ever. Feel free to complain about me again though because of that barrage of communication.
@rastamadeus All I ask is for you not to speak to me... I am asking nicely...
@rastamadeus
@Inahime:
That's enough the both of you both said what you had to say now let it go.
Now if we can let's continue on with the discussion at hand.
@Inahime: Sammy explained how to get a hold of him if you want to discuss why your thread was locked. Please don't use the comment section to ask those kind of questions. That's what the contact form is for.
Sony is bad at providing support at their products. That's why. They expect their product to be instantly profitable... Same will happen to PS Vue service. Just like this and music unlimited.
It's a real pity it turned out how it did. I spent a year working on an innovative, simple yet addictive and fun game that got 8/10 in a review and I have sold a grand total of 11 copies in over a month. I agree though that the majority has become shovelware or Flappy clones. I'm working on a PC sequel now anyway, hopefully bring it to PS4 as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lQq5XJd4zM
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